Nick Hughes on entrepreneurship

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Are You Being Brutally Honest With Yourself?

Chris Dixon writes in a short piece on Founder/Market fit about not only aligning yourself and your strengths in the proper market but also understanding where you fall short.

Founders need to be brutally honest with themselves. Good entrepreneurs are willing to make long lists of things at which they are have no ability. I have never built a sales team. I don’t manage people well. I have no particular knowledge of what college students today want to do on the internet. I could go on and on about my deficiencies. But hopefully being aware of these things helps me focus on areas where I can make a real contribution and also allows me to recruit people that complement those deficiencies.

Most importantly, founders should realize that a startup is an endeavor that generally lasts many years. You should fit your market not only because you understand it, but because you love it — and will continue to love it as your product and market change over time.

This is so true and applies in my life. Great entrepreneurs know where they are great and are honest about their weaknesses. I constantly ask myself:

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One thought on “Are You Being Brutally Honest With Yourself?”

Great article (as usual) I’m currently between two mind sets. First, being my passions and second, the gap in the market I can see. Its really hard to keep motivated when you aren’t passionate about your venture but, you know that the model your working on, has worked before. I would suggest that there are two kinds of entrepreneurs. One who is passionate about his venture; and the second which can see a gap in the market, and finds people to do the jobs he can’t.